Yoga and Pilates is now commonly used by athletes as part of training development and injury-prevention programmes.
It is important to recognise both the requirements of the invidual athlete as well as the needs of their chosen discipline for yoga and Pilates to be effective. Most people, competitive athlete or not, will benefit from increased flexibility, but cricketers and golfers, for example, will require greater spinal rotation than a runner. Yoga and Pilates creates a balance of strength, flexibility and range of movement without adding a restrictive level of muscle bulk, something a simple gym programme seldom delivers.

Having worked with competitive runners, rowers, sailors and tennis players as well as professional dancers, Helen and Russ have proven their ability to tailor programmes for the individual and their chosen sport and are happy to discuss the ways in which yoga and Pilates can be used to enhance current training regimens.


Yoga & Pilates for Golf
Golf is a sport that creates asymmetry with golfers being either right or left handed and only rotating in one direction. A good level of spinal rotation is required accompanied by the need to stabilise and resist from the hips and legs. This creates imbalance in overall posture. Shoulders need to remain mobile but stable for the swing. It is an activity that is often taken up in later life, at the very time when joints begin to stiffen and tighten so maintaining good posture, mobility, strength, range of movement and balance is crucial to progress within the sport.

Yoga & Pilates for Jogging
As legs are never fully extended in the running stride, runners can develop short hamstrings, a condition often associated with non-specific lower back pain. There is also increased wear and tear on joints, most particularly the hips and knees as well as reduced range of movement in the shoulders and upper back creating poor posture in standing. Pilates and yoga can offer the regular or serious runner an effective programme of stretching that won't destabilise joints and will also improve core stability, increasing distal strength.

Yoga & Pilates for Cycling
The nature of the cyclists position encourages a rounded back, lenthening but not strengthening the spinal muscles, whilst shortening and tightening the muscles at the front of the trunk. This creates poor posture that can have a detrimental effect on breathing patterns as well as hyper-extending the neck which can then cause neck and shoulder pain as well as headaches and blurred vision. Full range of leg movement is often absent resulting in great strength but shortened quadriceps (front of thigh) and hamstrings (back of thigh). Additionally, hips can become stiff due to the up/down nature of the revolution, with no external or internal rotation and no hip abduction and adduction.

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